Social Media 101 Rules of Engagment: Rule #1

Rule # 1:  Do your homework,  do your research!

Thinking of using social media as a tool to market yourself as a brand or market your business? Good! It’s a great tool or should I say groups of tools.

Now STOP.

I beg of you DO NOT PROCEED without creating a social media marketing plan.  Your plan should include some if not all the following  basics to start: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,  MailChimp (or email program equivalent), and a Communication Hub (e.i. Blog, WebSite, Facebook company page).

But first… Do your homework! Do your Research.

Research each social media option. Just be a fly on the wall for a while.  To be a fly you will first have to open accounts for each social media network. Do not use the email account that you will using for your future marketing – open a Gmail email just for research purposes. (www.gmail.com) so when you are ready to kick off your social media plan you can use the proper email address. Do not upload your computer’s email database. Save your database uploading for your “real” social media accounts not the ones you will be using for research.

Now start. Listen to the conversations. Explore. Find the differences of each social media network. Don’t engage right away, just listen to the conversations. Engage slowly. Learn social media “speak”, what acronyms & abbreviation like “@” and “RT” mean, how they are used and what they can do for you.

When you are ready to carry out your social media plan, be ready to set up new accounts for each media. To get your best return on investment (ROI) you will want a good name & icon as well as a great description (profile) of you or your business.  In most cases you will be able to make edits, but not in all cases, so it is best to prepare.  If you decided to use your company logo be ready to reduce the size of it so it reads correctly in the icon box size.  Do you have a photo, one to is right for your branding? You will need one. You will also need to decide if you are going to customize your background when possible, twitter for example. Don’t forget to continue your personal or your company’s branding with your social media.  Make this part of your plan.

To get you started:

Twitter acronyms & abbreviations by Tom Duong  http://bit.ly/cXP9yi

The Ultimate Glossary -101 Social Media Marketing Terms Explained by hubspot.com  http://bit.ly/9wFe2c

Next:  Social Media 101 Rules of Engagement: Rule #2 Creating Your Social Media Plan